


All There Is To Say

by thewightknight



Category: Avengers: Endgame - Fandom, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Gen, Goodbyes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-26
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2020-02-07 03:24:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18612130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewightknight/pseuds/thewightknight
Summary: The night before Steve fulfills Bruce's promise to the Ancient One, Bucky corners him for a talk.ENDGAME SPOILERS





	All There Is To Say

**Author's Note:**

> Because I can't believe they wouldn't give us a last scene for these two.

Steve had been spending a lot of time, sitting on the bench by the lake next to where they were rebuilding Pym’s machine. Not so much time that anyone else noticed anything about it, but Bucky noticed. He didn’t miss anything, wasn’t distant or reserved when spoken to – the opposite, in fact. He was all smiles and happy times whenever anyone talked to him. And he should be, really. They had won. But Bucky knew Steve too well.

“We should be finished tomorrow,” Bruce said late one afternoon.

“Tomorrow, then.” Steve squared his shoulders. “The last thing, and then everything’s put back to rights.”

It was a quiet night. They’d already had their celebrations, both of life and death. There had been a certain amount of worry about putting the stones back, after how getting them had gone awry, but Steve always smiled and shook his head and reassured everyone.

Bucky found him again on that bench. The light of the setting sun haloed him, and if they were reversed Steve would have reached for a sketchbook. Bucky couldn’t draw for shit and he’d set his phone down somewhere, so he took a few moments to set the scene in his memory.

When he sat down on the bench, Steve stirred, gave him a faint smile, but didn’t say anything. The silence stretched out between them until Bucky got tired of waiting.

“Ok, out with it. Something’s eating at you.”

“All those lost years, Buck. Seventy years, frozen in the ice. Been thinking a lot about them. Do you ever wonder about yours? What you would have done if you hadn’t fallen from the train that day?”

“Nah. No use. Nothing we could do about it.”

“But there is.” Steve didn’t look behind them, but he didn’t have to.

Bucky thought about it. He thought long and hard. And then he shook his head.

“Don’t want you going back and trying to save me. Who knows what that’d change? And I don’t want to go back like this.” Raising his left arm, he flexed the metal fingers one by one. “Couldn’t take this with me and I’ve gotten used to the new one. I’m good.” Bucky grinned then. “And besides, someone’s got to keep an eye on this lot. They get into almost as much trouble as you did.”

“Jerk.”

“Punk.”

There wasn’t much to say after that. Birdsong was replaced by the chirping of crickets as the sun disappeared behind the trees.

“Gonna stay out here all night?” Bucky asked at last, after slapping away another mosquito.

“Nah. Need to get a good night sleep. Busy day tomorrow, you know.”

They rose, but before returning to the site Steve asked what Bucky knew he’d ask. “You sure, Buck?”

“I’m sure.”

The next morning, their eyes met in that brief instant before Bruce flipped the final switch. Bucky’s attention had been torn between the proceedings around the machine and watching the old man make his way along the shore to the bench but he wouldn’t have missed that last chance to say goodbye. No one else had noticed the old man, as preoccupied as they were.

When Bruce’s countdown finished, when the pad stayed empty, Bucky waited. When the time felt right, he touched Sam on the elbow and pointed.

Even with the enhanced hearing Zola’s serum had given him, he couldn’t hear what they said. He could guess, though. He knew as soon as he saw it what was in that round leather bag Steve carried.

Their eyes met briefly again, and Steve smiled, that same sweet smile.

 _Punk,_ he mouthed. The smile morphed into that shit eating grin, and old Steve scratched at the side of his face with his middle finger, the old bastard. Shaking his head, Bucky turned away.

When Sam rejoined them, Bucky greeted him first. “How’s that promotion feel?”

“It’s like a dream, man.”

“I could pinch you,” Clint offered.

“Don’t you dare.”

 “Well, I guess that’s that,” Bruce said, after a long and awkward silence.

“Yep,” Sam replied. “That’s that.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you want to say hi, [check out my profile](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewightknight/profile) for where I’m currently hanging out on this here internet thing.


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